First off: Hello, everyone. I'm Fulcon and I like SoaSE. And I'm not afraid to admit it.

Now, on with the thread/paper.

To my understanding, Diplomacy is gong to be the last expansion.

But after the last expansion, what could they do? I think they could add just a couple of *clears throat* 'features' that might not even be possible, because it clashes so completely with Sins' game engine. Well, not so much the first feature. But the rest...anyway.

The first feature I would like to see would be boarding parties. You know, like have Colony Ships have the added benefit of being able to capture other ships by over-coming the other ships security teams. However: If you go over the supply limit with capturing ships, the ships you're capturing without paying for with have severely reduced functionality. That would be the ideal balance for me, though simply scuttling the ship if is goes over the supply limit works too and some of you could have a better idea still.

And you could send your own boarding parties onto your own ships to deal with opposing security forces. With this mechanic, you could also create an Insurgency mechanic. Like if you capture a planet, but there's still some survivors which will try to over throw the planet from within, as opposed to simply getting in an easily destroyable frigate and trying to bombard the planet. You just need to have a security force in place until it's dealt with properly.

But this is a relatively small new mechanic, and doesn't really justify a whole expansion just to bring it in. Thus, we come to the 'real' part of the expansion.

I would like to see players get down into a Frigate and pilot it around the many systems that us Supreme Commanders go around waging war on.

But you see, when I was first thinking of this idea, I thought that it would be cool to pilot a fighter around and fighting for your chosen faction, but then I thought about the obscenely long wait time that would bring and that players would get very bored while waiting for a fleet to get built up for a Major Attack. So as a solution to this, I thought of turning these little players who go around in the Frigates into Bounty Hunters.

Yeah. We could be able to set up contracts (that are either open ended and anyone can join in, or exclusive contracts for specific hunters), and the Hunter (another player or a CPU) could go and do this contract, or refuse. On our end, we have specific levels of acceptance; Red (kill on sight), Yellow (neutral) and Green (contracted ally). As they perform missions, we can decide whether or not to like them. Each of them starts out as Yellow. If someone shows a preference to a specific side, you can set them to Red.

Naturally, us Commanders can be very specific as to the details of the contract. You know those missions that the computer players are always assigning us? Like that, only with a time limit that we choose (if we even want a time limit). Like if we call an open ended bounty on Advent Trade Ships. All Hunters (assuming you put enough money in the pot) are now gunning for them. You can decide whether or not to pay up every time someone destroys a Advent Trade Ship or to end the bounty when a hunter destroys one ship.

To our advantage, other Commanders can also collect bounties. Though Hunters need a little cash then Commanders, and Commanders are usually a little to busy to get in the open bounties, so unless it’s paying some serious cash, I think they’d just leave those things to the Hunters.

Also, I would think that Commanders can place bounties on Hunters, like if they’ve been deemed the Harbinger of Death by your exalted judgment…thus opening up reasons for Hunters and other Empires to hunt this person down (Hunters re-spawn after about five minutes, of course…I just think there should be a penalty to it).

But with all of these things, I think the Hunter should be worth your money. They need an edge to make them useful, especially later in the game. There’s the TEC Hunters, the Vasari Hunters and the Advent Hunters. Like their much larger Empirical counterparts, they each have unique abilities…they all do the same thing, but they have their own way of doing it. But while the differences between the TEC, Advent and Vasari were rather subtle, the differences between the Hunters, I think, would be a tad more pronounced.

Like the empires, each has their own tech-trees. One set of tech-trees to upgrade their on-foot weaponry and another set to upgrade their ship. This is why they need money and resources. Naturally, all of this is unfinished, and just stuff I thought up. I’ll take suggestions as I can, and if they prove up to my standards (appropriate balance, cool enough…), put them in the paper, with full credit going to the person who put in the idea.

Each Hunter, of course has a weapon for their ship and on foot and a series of special abilities that set themselves apart. How Hunter specializes themselves is up to them.

General Hunter Goodness:

Armor and Shields: All Hunters come with armor that protects them while on foot and in space from weapons fire. It can be upgraded naturally, which is necessary to maintain their spot as the best of the best…because they can’t be the best if they’re dead. Shields recharge, but don’t stop as much damage as armor. Armor requires repair, which can be done at their ship.

Phasic Cloaking: A later ability which uses Phase technology to turn the Hunter invisible for a time, both for on foot and in their Frigate. It takes quite a bit of energy, though it can be upgraded to be more energy efficient. It relies on an individual, rechargeable battery.

Computer Hacking: Naturally, these guys can act as alternative boarding crews. They can hack computers and force Mining Facilities, Trade Ports, Capital Ships and Planets to allow them to dock. They can also wreak havoc in other ways using the terminals scattered throughout the facilities and vessels they dock at.

Sensors: Naturally, each Hunter has their own set of sensor systems. The Ships have a radar function and the hunters have a ‘Vision Enhancer’ that lets them detect certain things.

TEC Hunter:

On Foot Weapon: The TEC Hunter starts off with an Auto-Rifle as its main weapon. It’s decently accurate, and can switch between semi-automatic and burst firing mode, with a fully-automatic (think machinegun) mode researchable. There’s also a shot-gun mode and a grenade launcher, as well as a scope. It can also be upgraded to be more accurate. The Rifle has infinite magazines, though they do have to reload when the magazine runs out of bullets.

In Space Weapon: Actually, there are two: A laser canon and a missile launcher. The Laser Canon can over heat if used too much and must cool. The missile launcher has limited missiles, though they can reload after a certain period of time. The hunters must lock onto a target before they can fire missiles. The laser canon can be upgraded to do more damage and cause less heat, and the missile launcher can be upgraded to hold more missiles, have faster missiles and eventually use multiple missiles at the same time, locking on multiple targets.

Special Abilities: The TEC Hunter has abilities that are, right now, more subtle than the other two hunters.

Grapple Hook: Launches a Magnetic Grapple Hook, which can be used as rappelling equipment. Rappelling from ledges and climbing up them using the hook is the TEC Hunter’s most prominent ability. It can be upgraded to have a longer range and to have an electrical stun attack when used on an enemy.

Security Override Protocols: The TEC Hunter can access better computer hacking equipment, thus allowing for them to board vessels more quickly.

Contract Negotiating: The TEC Hunter gets better returns on his contracts, getting more money and resources upon the completion of a contract.

Thruster Boost: For a short time, a TEC Hunter’s ship can turn on its afterburners, increasing it’s speed dramatically. It’s controlled by a little bar somewhere on the HUD, and can only be used while there is charge in the bar.

Thermal Visor: The TEC Hunter can use a Thermal Visor to lock onto heat signatures. It can be upgraded to have a longer range, track foot prints left over and see trip lasers.

Vasari Hunter:

On Foot Weapon: The Vasari Hunter starts off with a Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle. It’s extremely accurate, does a lot of damage, but has a slow reload time and an incredible kick-back. Upgrades include a magazine holder so you can shoot more bullets before having to reload, a faster reload time, a compression system to reduce kick and ‘Phase Bullets’, which allow for some damage to get through the shields and damage the armor.

In Space Weapon: Again, two.  A Pulse Beam and a Phase Missile system. There is very little difference between the Vasari weapons and the TEC Weapons except that the Phase Missiles can get through shields and that the Pulse Beam does more damage than the lasers, but can fire fewer shots before overloading.

Special Abilities: The Vasari has several, more pronounced special abilities.

Phasic Cloaking Field Enhancer: The Vasari’s cloaking field can get more efficient than the other two factions, allowing them to stay invisible longer and have the battery recharge faster than the rest.

System Detection Visor: This allows the Vasari Hunter to see computer systems. It can be upgraded to see the wires that connect the computers to the systems they control, to see key-cards that officers hold and to see through walls.

Explosive Mines: The Vasari Hunter can lay trip mines that explode once their laser is broken, killing the victim. It can be upgraded to have multiple charges, have Phasic cloaking, have a wider laser and to move around as needed. The Vasari Hunter can’t trip his own laser.

Advent Hunter:

On Foot Weapon: The Advent Hunter has a fully automated drone as its main weapon. It’s capable of emitting plasma charges at enemies to damage them. It’s fully automated, so the Advent Hunter can take cover while the drone attacks enemies. It can dodge enemy shots with its anti-gravity boosters. And…it’s made through a special ability. It takes a lot of energy to make, and the Hunter can only have one at a time, though she can ‘recall’ it at anytime, teleporting it instantly to the Hunter’s Side. Also, its weaponry takes up the Hunter’s Energy supply to fire, though not much. It can be upgraded to have more efficient armor and shields, more efficient weapons. Also researchable is the ability to summon two more drones with different weaponry (a focused laser and artillery launchers respectively) and the buttons the Hunter normally uses to select different weapons give out commands to the drone.

In Space Weapon: Sadly, I’m drawing a creative blank on this. I would like some suggestions on this. Please.

 

Special Abilities: Because of the nature of the Advent, I’d say they have quite a few extremely prominent ones.

Shields and Energy: As opposed to the previous two Hunters, the Advent has no armor. Instead they have one big shield bar that quickly regenerates. Using an active special ability also drains the shield bar, so it’s important for them to manage their energy economically. It can be upgraded to have an even faster regeneration rate and have more shields.

Summon Drone: Using this ability either creates a drone to fight for the Hunter, or teleports the one that’s already there. Creating a drone is more energy costly than summoning them. Can be upgraded to be slightly cheaper. Teleporting a drone has a range, however and the Hunter must maintain a specific distance from her drone to keep it.

Telekinesis: The Advent Hunter can lift things with her mind. Using the mouse to guide it and the main and secondary weapon fire to draw it in forward or backward rapidly, this makes her a deadly adversary. She can pick up crates, boxes, and even enemy troops. Telekinesis can be upgraded to be more energy efficient, for objects to move faster while using attraction (pull towards, alt fire) or repulsion (push away, primary fire). Damage from getting hit by a flying object is severe.

Clairvoyance: The Hunter can see other life forms as a grayish mist with this on. And it’s passive, so it’s always on. It can be upgraded to see the color of the life forms, thus determining their faction, and to see through walls as to see what the life forms actually are. The ‘see through walls’ only has a specific range and works somewhat like a wall hack, only the Hunter can still see the wall; it’s just see-through.

Star Walk: When this is researched, the Advent Hunter can use her energy reserves to heighten her jump. Meaning she keeps going up until her reserves are out. After using Star Walk, energy will take a few seconds to begin recharging. The Advent Hunter can sequence Star Walks to give a ‘hopping’ effect in mid air allowing her to cross long distances. She can control the direction she rises and falls.

 

 

Each of these would add a new dimension to game-play experience, the bounty system and expand SoaSE’s audience drastically, in my opinion. If FPS people don’t like playing with the Commanders, we can have game modes dedicated specifically to them.

I don’t know. I’m not sure any of the above is actually possible. Is it? And if it is, would it be a good addition? Do we even want FPS jocks to come onto our forums? Discuss, please.